OpenADR Alliance Formed to Accelerate Industry Adoption of an Automated
Demand Response Standard for Smart Grid

MORGAN HILL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading Smart Grid industry organizations today announced the formation
of the OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the
development, adoption and compliance of a Smart Grid standard known as
Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR). Smart Grid standards for
Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) will ultimately lower the cost,
improve the reliability and accelerate the speed of Auto-DR and Smart
Grid implementations across the U.S.

A critical component of the national Smart Grid initiative, Auto-DR
encourages businesses and homeowners to reduce their electricity
consumption at critical “peak demand” times, or in response to changes
in market price, by automating message delivery from the utility
directly to the customer. OpenADR standardizes a message format used for
Auto-DR so that dynamic price and reliability signals can be delivered
in a uniform and interoperable data model among utilities, Independent
System Operator (ISOs) and customer’s energy management and control
systems.

Like all Smart Grid standards, OpenADR adoption will help accelerate
implementation of Smart Grid technologies by enabling key benefits for
utilities, vendors, consumers and other stakeholder groups by:

Lowering costs: Standardization will help lower production,
service and maintenance costs for vendors, and ultimately, their
utility customers. Lower costs will also accelerate technology
innovation and enhance product choice.

Assuring compliance: Vendor technologies that conform to a
uniform standard will reduce utility costs associated with compliance
testing, integration and deployment, while creating more technology
options for power companies exploring Auto-DR.

Improving reliability: Auto-DR has proven effective in
achieving a more reliable and higher performing grid by helping shave
peak electricity demand. Standardizing a message format will further
improve interoperability, efficiency and reliability of Auto-DR
systems.

Underscoring the effectiveness of this standard, over 60 control vendors
across the U.S. and internationally have already implemented OpenADR.
While the benefits of widespread adoption are clear, the industry has
lacked an organization responsible for the education, training, testing
and certification needed to bring this technology to market – until
today.

The OpenADR Alliance will foster the collaboration necessary among
industry stakeholders to ensure the rapid deployment of OpenADR -- a
price-and reliability-based demand response communication specification.
National standards work will be built upon the OpenADR specifications
published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and
funded by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy
Research (PIER) program. OpenADR is being further developed through the
National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Smart
Grid-standards effort, along with organizations including: Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the
Utilities Communications Architecture International User’s Group
(UCAIug), and the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB).

“Grounded in the standards activities initiated by Berkeley Lab in 2002,
the OpenADR Alliance will play a central role in accelerating the
adoption of Auto-DR and rapidly advancing our power grid into the 21st
century,” said Mary Ann Piette, research director for PIER Demand
Response Research Center (DRRC) at Berkeley Lab. “Only through
interoperable technology standards can we implement Smart Grid solutions
with the reliability, cost-effectiveness and guaranteed compliance
necessary for broad market acceptance. The OpenADR Alliance will
implement processes to quickly bring this commercially proven standard
to market.”

“There’s no question the widespread adoption of an OpenADR standard will
lower the development, equipment and service costs for Smart Grid
vendors and the utilities investing in these solutions,” said Jeremy
Eaton, vice president of energy solutions at Honeywell. “And it will
ultimately benefit homeowners and businesses because open standards spur
competition and innovation, and will lead to more effective Smart Grid
technologies, and greater energy and cost savings.”

“OpenADR is an established standard with the potential to accelerate
Auto-DR and Smart Grid implementation across the country,” said
Commissioner Jeffrey Byron, California Energy Commission (Energy
Commission). “The Energy Commission funds research to provide consumers
tools and products to manage their energy use. OpenADR is the
culmination of that research. Since OpenADR is now a part of the
national Smart Grid standards framework, the Energy Commission, LBNL and
stakeholders have an important role to play in helping lead the industry
toward national implementation.”

“Improved availability of OpenADR-compliant products will also help
electric utilities, like Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), satisfy
the grid-reliability and load-reduction requirements set by public
utility commissions,” said Albert Chiu, senior program manager, demand
response, for PG&E. “A standardized framework for Auto-DR products
facilitated by the OpenADR Alliance will pave the way for market
adoption of Smart Grid solutions that improve customer satisfaction and
grid reliability.”

About the OpenADR Alliance

OpenADR Alliance is fostering the development, adoption, and compliance
of the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) standard through
collaboration, education, training, testing, and certification. The
OpenADR Alliance intends to work with related organizations such as the
Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards (OASIS), North American Energy
Standards Board (NAESB), Utilities Communications Architecture
International User’s Group (UCAIug), Wi-Fi Alliance™, Zigbee Alliance™
and others as appropriate.

The OpenADR Alliance is open to all interested stakeholders sharing a
common interest in facilitating and accelerating the use and adoption of
the OpenADR standard for price- and reliability-based demand response.
More information can be obtained at http://www.openadr.org/.